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Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Bill

Amendment No. 2 is coupled with Amendment No. 1. It is on a slightly different issue on which I have quite some comments to make, because it relates to our discussion at Second Reading. The first clause reiterates: "““For the avoidance of doubt””," the ability of the Secretary of State, "““to fund the rail link or railway services on it””." To a certain extent, that is what the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, was talking about. My point, on which I would like to go into a little detail, is that there was substantial concern in another place about the Secretary of State’s ability to subsidise international operators running on High Speed 1. From the clause, that would seem to allow funding of international services through the Channel Tunnel, and potentially therefore services on the Continent. That would clearly be neither acceptable nor desirable. The Government have sought to reassure those concerned by insisting that the intention is that the power will be exercised only in relation to domestic services in the longer term. In the other place, the Government were insistent that, in any case, the power of the 2005 Act to support services extends only to Great Britain. That apparently means that the Government could not subsidise international operators, even if they were to try. However, the Minister made a noteworthy departure from the usual government stance during the closing remarks at Second Reading, saying: "““Clause 1 gives the Secretary of State the same commercial flexibility to support HS1 as she has for the national rail network, including flexibility to subsidise international operators in the same way as we currently support domestic franchise operators””." The Minister went on to mention that it was not the intention of the Government, "““to subsidise international services through a franchise or any similar arrangement””,—[Official Report, 19/2/08; col. 146.]" but he said that it was possible, which is contrary to other comments made. What exactly is the intention of the Government? It now seems that direct subsidy would be a possibility, as no mention was made by the Minister of the precluding 2005 Act, which was mentioned so frequently in another place. Therefore, we seem to have moved to a position of intention rather than legislation ruling out direct subsidy of international operators on High Speed 1. It is for this reason—now more than ever, given the apparent confusion—that provisions should appear in the Bill to prevent direct subsidies to such operators. If, as the Government suggest, long-term funding of international operators is not the intention, will they not accept that my amendment would be a relatively minor concession? Until now, we have been told that it will not be possible due to the continuing need to provide historic support in the short term, which we do not disagree with. In the past, of course, Eurostar UK Ltd was provided with rolling stock, lease guarantees and access charge loans. The Government have argued that any amendment would preclude the provision of such historical support. I have attempted to devise an amendment that would cover this issue. I appreciate that it may not be the most refined amendment in terms of wording, but the inclusion of a caveat excepting any historic support will, I hope, alleviate the Government’s concern. I can certainly see that removing the support in full would be too stark a change, as I said just now. However, given the level of the Minister’s remarks at Second Reading, what is there to prevent the Government having a change of mind and offering a direct subsidy to international operators? If the intention is for Eurostar UK to be fully self-standing over time, Amendment No. 2 will presumably allow for a sufficient and necessary bridge of historical funding. Although the Government have repeatedly claimed that accepting such an amendment is not necessary, what is to prevent the Secretary of State offering non-direct support in the longer term? Could not access charge lines, rolling stock leases and other such things be offered in the future? I understand that international services are operated on an open-access basis but, as has been demonstrated, support does not solely take the form of a direct financial subsidy. I therefore suggest that my amendment is necessary and would serve to alleviate both the Government’s and our concerns.